News & Op-Ed Commentary from The People's Republic of Moscow (Idaho)

Border arrests plunge, deportation arrests soar

Border crossings plunged to a 45-year low while arrests by deportation officers soared during President Donald Trump’s first months in office, as his efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigration system went into effect.

The Border Patrol made 310,531 arrests during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a decline of 25 percent from 415,816 a year earlier and the lowest level since 1971. Despite the significant decline, border arrests increased every month since May – largely families and unaccompanied children.

“ICE will no longer exempt any class of removable alien from potential enforcement activity,” Thomas Homan, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told reporters during a briefing Tuesday. “In other words, officers are empowered to do their sworn duty to enforce the law as it was written.”

ICE, whose officers pick up people for deportation, made 143,470 arrests, an increase of 25 percent from 114,434 a year earlier. After Trump took office, ICE arrests surged 40 percent from the same period a year earlier.